Dirty Cauliflower Rice
This Dirty Cauliflower Rice recipe is a keto spin on the classic Creole dish. Simple, quick, easy and so delicious, this low carb, one pan keto cauliflower rice recipe can be on the table in less than 30 minutes! This is one meal the whole family will be begging for again and again!
Hello all….it’s Emilie again from Tales of a Texas Granola Girl! I’m so excited to share this dish with you today because it’s one that my entire family…even my husband, the Cowboy…goes nuts over! As you may know, I live in a Ranch in the middle of Texas and one of my passions is cooking wild game! I’ve been cooking with venison and wild game for over 20 years, so if you’re looking for new and fresh venison recipes to use up that meat in the freezer, come over and take a look around!
This time of year is so busy around the Ranch…shredding, planting, trimming, tending to babies. So, when I can pull an amazing, one pan dinner together in under 30 minutes that all four of us love, I’m all over it! Dirty Cauliflower Rice for the win!
Living out on the ranch, we have a freezer full of venison and game, so I am always trying to come up with fresh and modern ways to use it up! Yes, there are so many other options for venison than just the chili or frying it! Ground venison or venison hamburger is a common venison “cut” in many freezers and this Dirty Cauliflower Rice recipe is a delicious way to use it up!
Then try this Sausage Pepper Cauliflower Rice Skillet. You can also use venison in these Paleo Stuffed Peppers.
What is Dirty Rice?
We love spicy, earthy Cajun and Creole flavors and the classic dish “Dirty Rice” has always been a family favorite but traditionally it’s full of white rice…so we swapped it out for cauliflower rice to make it low carb and keto friendly! Dirty rice also has onions, peppers, celery, and seasonings.
This updated keto cauliflower rice recipe is also made with venison and is so simple you will be amazed how incredible it tastes!
This easy, one pan meal starts by browning up some venison! I love to use my cast iron skillet for this because it’s heavy and does a great job at caramelizing the meat and that’s so important for developing flavor in this cauliflower rice recipe!
Can I use another type of ground meat?
Don’t have venison? No problem…you can easily sub in ground beef, turkey, pork, chicken or any other wild game! You can also switch things up and try using venison instead of the ground meat in this Easy Taco Casserole Recipe or this Ground Turkey Meatloaf Recipe.
Ingredients in Dirty Rice
The classic “trinity” of bell pepper, onion and celery is used to create a flavorful base to the Dirty Keto Cauliflower Rice Recipe. The addition of oregano, thyme, cayenne, garlic, and paprika come together to bring home classic Creole flair in this spiced up dish!
How to cook frozen cauliflower rice
With a little help from the frozen cauliflower rice, and by deglazing the pan with a little liquid, all the flavor concentrated in the bottom of the pan creates the “dirty” look of the cauliflower rice and creates incredible flavor in the dish!
As a testament to the addictive, crazy good flavor of this Dirty Keto Cauliflower Rice recipe…as I was photographing the dish…the Cowboy was eating it…and he’s not even keto or low carb! He just kept saying how great it was…and finished with “now, I’d eat that!” …MIC DROP.
If you love Cajun or Creole flavors, this Dirty Cauliflower Rice recipe is a must try! Let me know what you think! And if you’re in need of fresh, modern ideas to transform that freezer full of venison or wild game into amazing keto and low carb dishes, check out these:
Venison Recipes
Blackened Venison Tenderloin with Cajun Cream Sauce
Asian Inspired Venison Lettuce Wraps
Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos with Venison
Low Carb Cornbread Casserole with Venison
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Dirty Keto Cauliflower Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp bacon drippings or avocado oil
- 1 pound ground venison or your ground meat of choice
- 4 ribs celery diced
- 1 cup diced bell pepper
- ½ cup diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic finely minced
- ¾ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1½ tsp salt divided
- 1 tsp garlic powder. divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup chicken stock or water
- 12 oz frozen cauliflower rice
- Sliced Green Onions and Chopped Parsley
Instructions
- Preheat a heavy bottomed or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil or bacon drippings and the ground meat and season with 1 tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper and ½ tsp. garlic powder. Brown ground meat, breaking it apart with a spoon or spatula until it begins to caramelize. If it sticks to the bottom of the pan, that’s ok.
- After the meat begins to caramelize, reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, pepper, and celery and continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until the veggies are tender and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and the next four ingredients and cook for another minute.
- Add the frozen cauliflower rice, stock or water and season with the remaining ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. garlic powder. Stir to combine and use the liquid to loosen the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. This will give the cauliflower rice its “dirty” color! Continue to cook, stirring often, until the cauliflower rice is tender and there is no liquid left in the pan. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Garnish with sliced onion and chopped parsley and serve!
What would you serve alongside this to make a complete meal?
It has both protein and veggies so you really don’t need a side. If you want serve with a side salad or some keto cornbread: https://joyfilledeats.com/almond-flour-cornbread/
Great recipe, quick, easy and delicious! Will definitely be making this again soon.
This was delicious and simple to make!
I’ve made this twice and really enjoyed it, however I did increase the spices (not salt) by about 50% and added a splash of Worcestershire. Otherwise this is easy and super yummy!
This is so fantastic! I’m coming back for at least the 5th time so far. Thought I’d share what works for us as half this household is keto and the other half isn’t. I make the meat and veggies as presented but mix neither rice nor cauliflower rice in it. We can them seperate as a topping for either rice version – regular rice for the non-ketoers and cauli-rice for hubbs and me. (Once you mix it, it still gets that “dirty” look) Thank you for your incredible recipes! I can always count on quality recipes and tips here.
You can the meat mixture (minus the “rice”)? Please elaborate. Anything I keto I can prep/freeze/can etc helps us stay on track. TIA
How much is 1 serving??
1/4th of the recipe. It comes out to about 2 cups.
This looks delicious → do you have any thoughts about including edamame?
If edamame fits into your diet plan you can add some.
This tasted so good!! Also was fast and easy just as you said.
And thank you for giving the option of metric measures!!
Cooked this for my family of 5…husband, teenager and 12 year …and mom in law. Told them it was dirty rice (they don’t like cauliflower)…they all LOVED it! Total keeper! Thank you!
Used fresh cauliflower, added some andouille sausage. Delicious. I cook Keto dinners since my husband is Keto….but myself and carb loving daughter liked it even more than he did. Will definitely make again!
What’s the difference between using frozen cauliflower rice and fresh? I tend to use fresh cauliflower every time (frozen isnt something you see here in Asia!?) should I maybe just add a little more oil or water to prevent it from sticking?
Frozen needs a bit less cook time. But fresh works in this too!
Great healthy option for Creole cookin’. Added some chopped chicken livers and andouille sausage.
Loved this recipe, very flavorful! Will cut back on the salt next time but it was a wonderful idea to use with cauliflower rice. Definitely a keeper. Thank you for sharing
This was awesome! I made the recipe as stated and the flavor was very, very good. We enjoyed this a lot.